When attendees walked into the Blackmagic Design booth at ISE 2016 they were immediately met by its line of 4K cameras.
They range in size from little point-and-shoot cameras up to full ENG sets. The smallest of these allow for simple video capture. The midrange variety, Blackmagic Cinema Camera, is ideal for studio work. It will send 4K video to a switcher and allow you to live switch a 4K shoot.
The Blackmagic URSA has the capability of being a full ENG piece. The lens mounts available are either EF or PL which is an upgrade over the Cinema Camera, and makes available a wide range of professional lenses.
In addition, the recording technology the company uses is CFast 2.0. This format gives you the ability to shoot in RAW, Apple ProRes, or real 4K (4608×2592). The URSA also has pro level video connections so you can use it in a studio or “live to tape” environment as well.
As I was talking with the Blackmagic representative, he asked if I had heard of the DaVinci Resolve software.
DaVinci is Blackmagic’s new video editing software. It was born out of Blackmagic’s color correction software that allows for real time color correction of video. The layout is similar in look and feel of Apple’s Final Cut Pro version 7. If you are familiar with the history of FCP, you’ll remember that this was the last iteration of the software that was truly professional. DaVinci has captured that workflow very well.
The timeline, bins and effects interface is quite familiar. The real time effects processing makes for easier and faster effects use as you do not have to render the effects before seeing their impact on your edits and deciding whether or not to keep them. Here’s the real kicker; it’s free. Yes, I said free.
A free non-linear video editing platform that acts like Final Cut Pro 7. This may very well be the best kept secret in Blackmagic Design’s booth. It has been downloaded and once I get some time to work with it I will write a full review. In the meantime, if you are a video editor looking for another NLE you might want to grab it and play around with it yourself.
